Chapter 2 - A Meeting in the Forest

Cassie wakes up early the next morning, determined to tell Tom all about her adventure. She goes early to the dairy with her trolley, and finds Tom fishing with a home made rod in the creek. She tells him all about the indian enclosure, and shows him the necklace. Tom shares Cassies excitement, and, as it is the weekend, suggests to Cassie that they both visit it that day.

They get their parent's permission, and set off again into te forest. They go off to find Gus, but he has to fix the hotel generator, which is playing up, so he can't come with them. Gus draws her a map to find the clearing again, and Cassie finds her way without any difficulty. Again, they search for indian things, and then eat their pack lunch, and drop off to sleep on the grass. Cassie is awoken suddenly by Tom, who is sitting upright, staring into the forest.

"what was that?" he asks. Cassie looks over to where he is staring, and sees a shape moving in the bushes and trees. It looks like a person, but is quite small - perhaps a child? They rush over to the bush but the figure has disappeared without trace. Tom spots something on the ground - a small leather bag, with strange markings, like writing, but nothing they have ever seen before.

They head home to tell Gus all about what has happened. Gus is just coming out of the basement, covered in soot and oil from his day spent wrestling with the generator, and tells the children he needs to clean up before he can hear their adventure. They arrange to meet on the porch. Cassie makes lemonde for herself and Tom, and Gus has a beer and a pipe. They tell him everything that has happened, and show him the bag. Gus thinks the writing looks like Indian writing, and asks Tom if he can borrow the bag to get it checked out, and Tom agrees.